Walmart Adds AI-Powered In-Store Search

Walmart has launched several new artificial intelligence (AI) tools designed to help customers with their holiday shopping.

The tools are now available on the retailer’s app and website, according to a Friday (Oct. 31) press release.

The Walmart app now includes an In-Store Savings feature that displays all the items that are on sale at a specified location; an enhanced search feature for in-store use that shows whether an item is in stock and where it is located; and a feature that allows users to create a shopping list and then sorts those items by the aisle in which they are located.

The retailer’s Gen AI-powered digital assistant, Sparky, can now serve as a party planner. When users tell it about the occasion they are preparing for, Sparky creates a curated list of the items they will need.

Other new features include AI-generated audio clips that summarize the product descriptions of premium beauty products; a Shop the Background feature that lets users click on items shown in product images to add them to their cart; and a Dynamic Showroom feature that allows users to create images of different spaces, such as bedrooms or dining rooms, by selecting the furnishing they want to include.

“Whether customers are holiday shopping in our stores or from the comfort of home, we’re giving them the tools to check off their lists quicker and easier than ever before,” Tracy Poulliot, senior vice president, shopping experiences at Walmart U.S., said in the release.

“And they’re loving it — when they use the app while they shop in stores, they spend 25% more on average than on trips when they don’t use the app,” Poulliot said.

PYMNTS reported in August that AI shopping adoption is gaining ground among consumers. Thirty-two percent of all respondents to a PYMNTS Intelligence survey said they have used or would use generative AI for shopping.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in August that AI remains a key focus at the retailer.

“As we improve and scale Sparky, we’ll make it even smarter and more personalized,” McMillon said during an Aug. 21 earnings call. “It’ll be the primary digital vehicle for discovery, shopping and for managing everything from reorders to returns.”

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